recipes, travel and food journal

Trofie al Pesto con Fagiolini e Patate

by ambrosiana on August 1, 2012

In my past post , “How to make Pesto like a Ligurian” , I shared the secrets of the ancient pesto recipe. Having unveiled the ingredients and the method to make pesto alla Genovese, I thought that you may also want to know how Ligurians eat their pesto – right? Well, they combine it by using different pasta shapes that go really well with pesto – trofie, trofiette and trenette. While ago I was going down the pasta aisle of my nearest supermarket, and I came across a box of pasta Barilla. What caught my attention was not only the shape of the pasta – trofie , but the recipe on the back of the box – Ligurian trofie with pesto, potatoes and green beans…Potatoes with pasta? Did I read well? A weird combination, isn’t it? What added value could potatoes give pasta? Since this is a traditional recipe of the Liguria region (and there might be a reason why Ligurians use potatoes), I then decided to give it a try and find out by myself.

2. Peel potatoes, and dice finely into 1 cm squares. This is very important for the end result.

3. Boil water in a pot. Add coarse salt.

4. When water boils, add pasta, potatoes and green beans together. The Barilla trofie take about 10 minutes to cook, and in this case, the amount of time was enough for cooking green beans and potatoes (remember to cut potatoes small!). If you are using fresher trofie – or another type of pasta that takes less time to cook – you need to adjust the timing when adding green beans and potatoes to the boiling pot (if the pasta you are using cooks in 5 minutes, add vegetables 5 minutes before).

5. When pasta is al dente, drain all three ingredients, saving about a cup of cooking water for later.

6. Blend with pesto, adding water little by little to let all the ingredients amalgamate well.

So what about the use of potatoes? When blending all ingredients together, potatoes crumble and add their starches thickness to the dish, making it richer and heartier!

The beautiful green of the pesto and beans just looks so summery! I love this pasta dish especially with the trofie pasta. I’ve heard of potatoes on pizza but have never had it in my pasta! Sounds like a dish i must try!

Hi Roger! You can try it with a spiral pasta such as fusilli or any twisted, helix or corkscrew shape! The important thing is that pesto clings well to pasta! I suggest you to try it. It does have a similar effect as untoasted bread crumbs on pasta…remember?

I knew that trenette were often served with pesto but this dish is new to me. I’ll have to ask Zia if she’s familiar with it. Even if not, I’m sure we’ll try it. The flavors sound delicious and both of us love pesto. We have it at least once whenever I visit her.

When I first learned to make pesto years ago I came upon a traditional recipe that called for pesto, potatoes and pasta. Never tried it that way because somehow it failed to inspire…you however did NOT! This is absolutely beautiful and I mean to try it as soon as I can. Love every single ingredient and think the combination of textures, of shapes and the rich green all in one bowl are stunning! (This is getting pinned!)

i don’t find it weird that potatoes were added to a pasta dish. i eat potatoes with rice or bread sometimes.
personally, i’m only just now getting into the pesto thing. i enjoy it’s versatility, as evidenced by this dish.

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About

I am a food lover blogging from the eternal city of Rome. Ambrosia in Roman and Greek Mythology was the food of the gods. Therefore, this is a site about tales of real, fresh, and delicious food available to all of us human beings. In this blog, my aim is also to share pictures while travelling in Italy and abroad.